A strategic closeout process is involved in the success of any construction or capital project. In general, a disproportionate amount of time and cost is required to produce relatively marginal progress toward “perfection,” as a measurable degree of quality, in both the current standard and non-standard project delivery methods. Time and cost expenditures, to address quality control during the construction process and closeout phases, can be a balance between the disparate interests of the stakeholders and related parties: owners, developers, capital partners and equity investors, operators, architects, consulting engineers, contractors, sub-contractors, vendors, etc. Attaining the quality established in the contract documents, and demanded by the architect, consulting engineers, and other designers, can jeopardize both the schedule and the budget.
The current, industry-standard quality control and closeout workflow process, in general, provides that stakeholders employ manual means and methods during the quality control and closeout process. In one example, stakeholders inspect the work and generate issue lists and related reports and protocols by hand, using traditional paper and pen, a laptop, or tape recorder or digital audio recording device. Administrators transfer the data and meta-data, from the in-situ inspections to a paper or electronic document, usually a spreadsheet. In most projects each stakeholder, including the general contractor, sub-contractors, architect, and consulting engineers, manages a separate document, distinct and insulated from the other parties. The result: a non-productive working environment, plagued by wasted expenditures of time and energy, and increased stress and strife. The accuracy and integrity of information is often neither dependable nor verifiable at any given moment in time.